OK, I have officially been bitten by the Caterham bug
Discussion
Hi there,
I need a doctor urgently, I have a very large Caterham shaped bite on my leg and I fear the only cure is to buy a Caterham as a second car.
It was my birthday today and as a present I headed off to Yorkshire to hire for the day a very pretty Yellow Supersport from Scott and Lynda at www.roadsporthire.com
The car was superb, quite simply superb. I have driven quite a few sportscars over the years and even managed to do over 55,000 miles in a Smart Roadster Coupe over an 18 month period.
Nothing could prepare me for my first drive of the Caterham. Lynda explained the controls to me then I strapped myself in and eased my way out onto the main road. As soon as I touched the accelerator the power was instant, the car just took off and the noise it made was beautiful. Stalled it at the first junction and kept turning the key to get the engine restarted, forgetting it had a starter button.
I headed up onto the moors around Pickering/Goathland and took loads of pics. Then over a few of my favourite roads, through Egton village and then down into Whitby. Stopped for a quick sandwich in Whitby before taking a few more pics at Sandsend. By this time the weather had gone from overcast to light drizzle, not a huge problem on the drive down to Scarborough as a decent speed meant the rain pretty much went over the car rather than in it. Pulled over at North Bay for a few more pics before it really started to rain, time to attempt the hood.
Stopped at the Spa car park (its underground) and had my first experience of putting up a Caterham hood. Not to bad, only took about 10 mins although my fingers are still sore from the bloody press studs. Out of the car park for a quick run up to Olivers Mount for a few quick pics before the heavens really opened. Time to head home and a final blast down the A64 wipers on, headlamps on, heated windscreen on and hood up. Almost felt like a normal car.
I have had a fantastic day and it was made even better by the welcome back at base from Scott and Lynda who gave me a birthday card, a present (Caterham baseball cap), and a framed photo of me in the car this morning.
Loads of pics to follow as soon as I have worked through them.
I feel another trip coming up soon as Scott showed me his new 'Gulf' liveried Supersport which had just arrived. This has a few more 'race spec' bits on it so should be good fun. Can't wait to hire this one.
Thanks again for a great day.
Regards
Tim
I need a doctor urgently, I have a very large Caterham shaped bite on my leg and I fear the only cure is to buy a Caterham as a second car.
It was my birthday today and as a present I headed off to Yorkshire to hire for the day a very pretty Yellow Supersport from Scott and Lynda at www.roadsporthire.com
The car was superb, quite simply superb. I have driven quite a few sportscars over the years and even managed to do over 55,000 miles in a Smart Roadster Coupe over an 18 month period.
Nothing could prepare me for my first drive of the Caterham. Lynda explained the controls to me then I strapped myself in and eased my way out onto the main road. As soon as I touched the accelerator the power was instant, the car just took off and the noise it made was beautiful. Stalled it at the first junction and kept turning the key to get the engine restarted, forgetting it had a starter button.
I headed up onto the moors around Pickering/Goathland and took loads of pics. Then over a few of my favourite roads, through Egton village and then down into Whitby. Stopped for a quick sandwich in Whitby before taking a few more pics at Sandsend. By this time the weather had gone from overcast to light drizzle, not a huge problem on the drive down to Scarborough as a decent speed meant the rain pretty much went over the car rather than in it. Pulled over at North Bay for a few more pics before it really started to rain, time to attempt the hood.
Stopped at the Spa car park (its underground) and had my first experience of putting up a Caterham hood. Not to bad, only took about 10 mins although my fingers are still sore from the bloody press studs. Out of the car park for a quick run up to Olivers Mount for a few quick pics before the heavens really opened. Time to head home and a final blast down the A64 wipers on, headlamps on, heated windscreen on and hood up. Almost felt like a normal car.
I have had a fantastic day and it was made even better by the welcome back at base from Scott and Lynda who gave me a birthday card, a present (Caterham baseball cap), and a framed photo of me in the car this morning.
Loads of pics to follow as soon as I have worked through them.
I feel another trip coming up soon as Scott showed me his new 'Gulf' liveried Supersport which had just arrived. This has a few more 'race spec' bits on it so should be good fun. Can't wait to hire this one.
Thanks again for a great day.
Regards
Tim
Edited by autofocus on Tuesday 29th September 22:56
Jeepers Tim - you just left us 5 hrs ago - how decent of you mate to post this.
Much appreciated. Can't wait to see the pics.
After you left I started mucking about with the film frrm Tockwith race day and did this montage - you may recognise the Yellow Supersport!
Our customers are real stars and none more so than you.
Tim's a modest bloke and his photography is stunning!
Cheers mate - see you soon for a run in the Gulf.
Much appreciated. Can't wait to see the pics.
After you left I started mucking about with the film frrm Tockwith race day and did this montage - you may recognise the Yellow Supersport!
Our customers are real stars and none more so than you.
Tim's a modest bloke and his photography is stunning!
Cheers mate - see you soon for a run in the Gulf.
Apologies- forgot the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpbeJhYShT4
Pls don't tae the pi$$ about the video - my first one ever and using the Microsoft thingy that is on the PC. Ditto for the driving - too fast in/slow out, and set up is a bit benign! OK Ok, I'm no stig!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpbeJhYShT4
Pls don't tae the pi$$ about the video - my first one ever and using the Microsoft thingy that is on the PC. Ditto for the driving - too fast in/slow out, and set up is a bit benign! OK Ok, I'm no stig!
The same bug bit Me this time last year! when I hired one from CC Midlands , great day was had! Got home and then 6 weeks hunting on the web found Myself a 1600 Supersport, picked it up on November 15th '08 and its been a blast, done over 5000miles! Im now a Lotus 7 member , and had some good runs out with the club. Also living in South Wales ,I dont have far to drive some of the best roads in mid/west Wales! Now is a good time to start looking for a car, end of the summer ,people are looking to move their cars on, prices are a bit cheaper, but You'll have to get some thermals too ,as even though it was mid winter all I wanted to do was drive it!! This winter I'm going to try and keep the salt off it and only drive it on really nice winter salt free days!!
Anyway good with car hunting!!
Al Evans..
Anyway good with car hunting!!
Al Evans..
Tim
You picked the right roads to try a 7 in! I used to live in Tockwith prior to moving to London, but can't picture where Mr. Moore has put his 'track'? The roads over the Dales & Moors are stunning, whatever you're driving/riding/
Sounds like you had fun and the service from RoadSportHire also sounds very good (no connections, etc, etc!).
Wait until you try on the of the higher powered variants!
Cheers
PS You don't want a hood or screen, just grab a goretex and some goggles (or wear a helmet). It's a step up in the sensory experience department!
You picked the right roads to try a 7 in! I used to live in Tockwith prior to moving to London, but can't picture where Mr. Moore has put his 'track'? The roads over the Dales & Moors are stunning, whatever you're driving/riding/
Sounds like you had fun and the service from RoadSportHire also sounds very good (no connections, etc, etc!).
Wait until you try on the of the higher powered variants!
Cheers
PS You don't want a hood or screen, just grab a goretex and some goggles (or wear a helmet). It's a step up in the sensory experience department!
Definitely the right roads. My girlfriend comes from Haxby and every time we go up there to visit her parents we end up going out along the back roads past Castle Howard and Pickering to the Moors, and every time we're in the bloody Focus! Not fair.
Last time we went over to the Dales, and it was even more painful. Some truly awesome driving roads and I was in 1400kg of overweight FWD hatchback.
So the moral of the story of this is this: 1) buy a Caterham, and 2) make sure you have it handy the next time you're likely to encounter a decent road.
Last time we went over to the Dales, and it was even more painful. Some truly awesome driving roads and I was in 1400kg of overweight FWD hatchback.
So the moral of the story of this is this: 1) buy a Caterham, and 2) make sure you have it handy the next time you're likely to encounter a decent road.
allen l said:
Never thought of going with two cars Chris?
Tow one behind the other you reckon? 
Nah, sadly SWMBO isn't particularly keen on driving. I can just about coax her to do the occasional stint behind the wheel in the Focus, but there's no way I could persaude her to do 200 miles up the A1 on her own while I follow in the Caterham. To be fair while it still has a few teething issues to iron out (no hood, for example) I'd be quite reluctant to do that too.
For the first time we had two cars out on Sat and there's something great fun about that. It's like when you were a kid - bike ride is fun but more fun with two of you mucking about.
We'd love to get an R300 for hire but the insurance premium is even dafter. Also, we've had some fab cars left here - late Aston Vantage, M5, R26, Cooper works etc etc and even with two up, nobody's said "not fast enough". We also have customers who are out for the scenery as well as the driving and step out a standard Focus or something and it's quite a change for them.
The new Gulf racing livery Supersport car is a cracker. Belonged to Nick, the main man at Midlands, and it's just so well sorted. Well if you could have any bits you wanted and get t done, you would wouldn't you. Can't see me ever selling it and may make it available only for Pistonheaders or returning customers.
The best bit is new people discovering the Caterham bug - you can see it in their faces. Makes it really worthwhile and we've had two customers already go on to buy their own cars.
We'd love to get an R300 for hire but the insurance premium is even dafter. Also, we've had some fab cars left here - late Aston Vantage, M5, R26, Cooper works etc etc and even with two up, nobody's said "not fast enough". We also have customers who are out for the scenery as well as the driving and step out a standard Focus or something and it's quite a change for them.
The new Gulf racing livery Supersport car is a cracker. Belonged to Nick, the main man at Midlands, and it's just so well sorted. Well if you could have any bits you wanted and get t done, you would wouldn't you. Can't see me ever selling it and may make it available only for Pistonheaders or returning customers.
The best bit is new people discovering the Caterham bug - you can see it in their faces. Makes it really worthwhile and we've had two customers already go on to buy their own cars.
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